Sunday

Starting pitcher Jake Arrieta retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced in a 4-inning outing.

PHILADELPHIA — Jake Arrieta's Phillies debut didn't last as many innings as he had hoped, but there were plenty of reasons to be encouraged by Sunday's performance.

Manager Gabe Kapler pinch-hit for Arrieta in the bottom of the fourth inning Sunday with the game tied en route to a 6-3 loss to the Marlins. He had thrown 74 pitches, 47 of them strikes.

While Arrieta, who said after Thursday's bullpen session that "If I’m rolling, I intend to be out there for quite a while," he understood he was on a firm pitch count due to a limited spring after signing his three-year, $75-million free agent contract.

"I was pretty crisp over the last three innings," Arrieta said. "Moving forward, it's finding that timing earlier in the ballgame, especially in the first inning. Once I find that, I tend to roll."

Arrieta struck out five, walked two and surrendered three hits, all of them in the first inning. He retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced.

"I thought it got a lot of stronger as the outing went on," Kapler said. "He had a little bit of struggle with his command and getting into his rhythm early on."

In shirt sleeves despite the 44-degree temperature at first pitch, Arrieta allowed three first-inning runs on 31 pitches, including a one-out Miguel Rojas home run on a 92-mph sinker. He also experienced some bad luck, as Andrew Knapp was called for catcher's interference to load the bases and right fielder Braxton Lee blooped a two-run single over third base. Long reliever Drew Hutchison was warming up already in the first.

The only baserunner over the final three frames against Arrieta was a third-inning Brian Anderson walk. He mixed his pitches well and the location was quite good after what he called an "erratic" first inning.

"I was maybe just a little too giddy (at the outset)," said Arrieta, referring to his first time as a Phillie in front of the hometown fans.

The Philly faithful gave Arrieta a nice welcome. That 34,326 turned out on a cold, windy day showed they were eager to see what Arrieta could do.

"I think you can kind of feel the anticipation in the stands, even though the weather was not good," said left fielder Rhys Hoskins. "Pretty good showing by the fans — and I'm going to go ahead and say '49 (Arrieta's number)' had to a lot to do with that."

If you had Vince Velasquez as the only Phillies starter to go six innings through the first eight games — two of them starts by ace Aaron Nola — congratulations (I think).

While Arrieta is adjusting to his new teammates, his teammates are adjusting to him, too. Knapp was Arrieta's catcher for just the third time, so he's figuring out what Arrieta likes to do as they go along.

"For us, it's a learning curve, too," Knapp said. "For him to go out and settle down and start pounding the strike join later in the game was really cool."

Arrieta's fastball dropped off an average of 2.5 mph from his 2015 Cy Young season to last year. He went seven innings in just four of his 30 starts and averaged 5.6 innings per start in 2017 en route to a 14-10 record and 3.53 ERA. He finished really well, compiling a 2.26 ERA in his last 14 starts and earned NL Pitcher of the Month honors for going 4-1 with a 1.21 ERA in August.

Arrieta's fastball topped out at a solid 93 mph in the first inning Sunday.

The 32-year-old Arrieta believes he should be able to go another 10 to 15 pitches in his next start — likely Saturday in Tampa — which would put him in the 85 to 90 range. That should get him to at least five innings, barring another 30-pitch frame.

"You want to put up a goose egg in the first to kind of set the tone for the ball club," Arrieta said. "That's something I definitely look forward to working on."

The fans and his teammates can't wait to see it, either.

Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes.com; @TomMoorePhilly

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